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Hello, everyone. We live in northeastern Illinois, roughly 35 miles northwest of Chicago. From the lakes, rolling hills, and the many rounded boulders I see people using in their landscaping, I’m guessing this area was close to the southern extent of a glacier. About two years ago we had our septic system replaced, and ever since then rocks have been surfacing from the area around where the new tanks were back-filled with dirt from the yard. Several of the rocks contained small fossils. Last week, my grandson and I went fossil hunting in the backyard and we found this, which is the most interesting looking one we found. Can anyone please identify this and perhaps help me understand its age, or basic facts about the animal or plant this comes from? When I look at it (I’m NOT a paleontologist or serious hobbyist. I’m just a grampa who'd like to be able to tell his grandson what he has.) I see an animal hide, but since I have virtually no knowledge to base my opinion on, I’m asking this forum. As you can see, there appears to be a thick layer with a bumpy texture. I don't see a strong pattern to the bumps, but if you use your imagination, maybe they form arcs. The underside also looks pretty interesting to me, although I can’t tell if it is even part of the same fossil on the other side. Thank you!

Hello- We found three unidentified fossils by a lake bed several years ago. It appears to be a cephalopod of some kind. The animal has 'plates' instead of 'ridges' though. The longest fossil measures at 7". Can you please help with the identification? Thank you!